For the second away game this week, Club travels to KRC Genk. Like Blauw-Zwart, the Limburgers are engaged in a fierce battle for a ticket in the Champions' Play-Offs. Read all about the duel in the Club Facts!
The match
On Sunday, Club plays its penultimate away game of the regular season. The stakes are high, as both Club and Genk are competing with four other teams for the last four tickets to the Champions' Play-Offs.
Of late, Club has struggled at the Cegeka Arena, with only one win from four games. At home earlier this season, Club played a draw against the Limburgers after Vanaken erased El Khannous' opening goal.
Sunday's topper will be the 84th meeting between the two teams in the top division. In the past 41 away games in Genk, FCB was able to win 12 games (last 2-3 on 28/11/2021), nine times it was a draw (last 1-1 on 3/11/2018) and twenty times Blauw-Zwart had to acknowledge its superiority (last 3-1 on 30/04/2023).
Remarkably, Hans Vanaken was able to score seven consecutive games against the Limburgers (7 goals), a series that began on November 28, 2021. In total, he already hit seventeen goals against his provincials (4 for Lokeren, 13 for Club). Against no other opponent did Vanaken score as many times as against KRC Genk.
The Blue-Black top shooter this season is still Igor Thiago. The Brazilian striker has already scored 16 goals in the JPL. With Maxim De Cuyper, Philip Zinckernagel and Hans Vanaken, there are now three assist kings with six assists each. Only three players in the Jupiler Pro League do better than Club's trio.
With Ferran Jutglà, coach Deila has a striker in form. The Catalan could score on Sunday for the first time in four consecutive league matches. He currently sits at nineteen league goals for Club. In terms of Spanish goals in the highest league, only Luis Garcia (22, Eupen) and Alejandro Pozuelo (21, KRC Genk) could score more often this century. Jutglà is thus the best-scoring Spaniard in first division ever for Club. He does better than his compatriots Víctor Vázquez (15), Javier Portillo (8), Jordi Figueras and Tomás Pina (1).
Both Club and Genk are counting on good organization this season. With 26 and 27 goals against, respectively, they are among the three teams with the best defense in the JPL. They are also dominant in the other rectangle: Genk already has 890 ball touches in enemy territory, Blue-Black counts four less (886), no team is doing better.
At Union, Simon Mignolet had to go to the side with an injury. Our number 1 played consecutively 130 games for Club. Only Fons Bastijns (160), Franky Van der Elst (142) and Hans Vanaken (132) ever played a longer series for Club. Nordin Jackers made his debut for Club due to his colleague's injury. The OHL mercenary could potentially be in action Sunday against the club where he went through the youth series and made his debut in 1A in 2017.
